The War Within
by TheFrogFromHell
Summary: SEQUEL TO BLOOD, INSANITY, AND DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION. Tohru is now 28 and living in an insane asylum, and Kyo has become a killer, seeking revenge on Tohru. The second part, and hopefully the conclusion to this story.
1. The Institution

Chapter 1: The Institution

Tohru Honda sat on the couch, watching the news. All alone in the small room, she had the sound turned on full blast. Her "neighbor" repeatedly rapped against the thin wall, attempting to make her turn it down, but it was to no avail. Nobody in the Institution knew why she would always turn the sound up so loud; only Miss Honda knew.

She was trying to drown out the music. She had been at the Institution for almost twelve years now, and she had begun to recover from her… condition… but she was still far from complete recovery. It wasn't as bad as it used to be, however- the music now only consumed just a small portion of her mind, and she could usually silence it by turning the TV up, banging on the walls, or any means of loud noises besides the music.

She then heard another noise, apart from the loud blaring of the news, down in the hall. She also smelled something sweet, like homemade cake, or brownies, or something. The fresh, sweet smell reminded her of earlier days, when she used to live in that house, cooking for the three men who loved her- Shigure, Yuki, and…

Tohru slammed her head against the wall. She couldn't even think about Him, without hearing the God-awful music. The music that had been playing itself over, and over, and over, right before she… _killed him. _She began to wail loudly, as she did quite often, when she thought of Him. She screamed, disturbing everyone else in the institution. An uproar had begun, and now there were many squealing voices besides her own, yelling for their parents, their lovers, or anyone whom they thought still cared about them. But no one cared about Tohru. The only person who loved her was dead- she had killed Him. She had killed Him. She had killed Him. The thoughts ran over and over in her head, and she heard the music again, which grew louder and louder and louder and-

Her gruesome thoughts were interrupted by a light touch on her shoulder. She turned around, now with her guard up, expecting to see Him. But instead, there was Dr. Sherman, the head doctor in the Institution.

"Miss… Honda," the doctor said, with her friendly, almost cheesy smile, "we need you to calm down now," Tohru was shaking. She didn't like the feeling of human touch. The doctor looked like she was half afraid of Tohru, half sympathetic. "Once you calm down, we have a special surprise for you." We? Tohru looked beyond Dr. Sherman, and saw two teenaged girls behind her, holding a big, chocolate cake. 'Most likely volunteers,' Tohru thought to herself.

"Do you know what today is?" Continued Sherman, speaking as though Tohru were four years old. Tohru shook her head. She had no idea what was going on- she just couldn't seem to keep track of things these days.

"Today," said one of the volunteers gleefully, "is your twenty-eighth birthday!" Then Tohru remembered. She looked at her flower calendar, and sure enough, it was her birthday. How could have the time gone by so fast? It didn't seem like she had been here for two birthdays already…

"And," declared Dr. Sherman, "We have someone special here to see you…" Tohru turned around, and her eleven-year-old son stepped into the room.

"_What's her condition?" inquired Doctor Sherman, peering at Hatori from where she sat in her large armchair._

"_I… don't know," Hatori stated, "but she won't stop screaming, and muttering about some sort of music,"_

"_It sounds like it could be a rare type of Schizophrenia," said the doctor. Hatori mentally chuckled- that would certainly make sense, wouldn't it? "We'll have her tested as soon as possible. Does this girl have any parents? Legal guardians?" Hatori shook his head. Dr. Sherman frowned. "This is not good news…"_

"_Why not?" Inquired Hatori, "I would be happy to check on her from time to time- I am a doctor, you know."_

"_We're not worried about her, necessarily," she continued, "it's the baby that we're worried about…"_

"_Baby?" Hatori exclaimed, eyes widening._

"_Oh yes," The doctor said, "we have recently discovered that Miss Tohru Honda is pregnant." _


	2. Disconnected

Chapter 2: A Shocking Discovery

Tai Sohma rummaged through a tall chest of drawers, being as quiet as he could, so he would not awaken his mother, who could be very grumpy when unnaturally woken up. Also, his mother had forbidden him to go into her office, and she would be very upset with him if she found out that he had taken a peek inside.

He was usually very obedient of his mother, because she was much bigger than him, and had one heck of a temper. Not that she was abusive; she loved Tai very much, but she just had that kind of a personality. He had disobeyed her this time simply because he needed information.

Tai's sixth grade teacher, Mrs. M (for some reason, she never told the students her full name) had assigned the class to write short autobiographies, starting from when they were young babies, to the present. She had asked the students to include the information on their birth certificates, and also to interview their parents about when they were little kids. However, when Tai had tried to interview his parents about his birth and childhood, they hadn't been very open. They hadn't shown him his birth certificate, told him anything about what it was like when he was born, or what hospital. They even seemed almost… secretive.

He had tried again and again to get the information from his parents, but still they would not tell him. So, he decided that he would find it himself.

Actually, he wasn't quite sure that the information would be in his mother's office, but he hadn't a clue where else it would be, so he decided to check there first. Most of the drawers that he had searched through had been full of magazine articles and newspaper clippings that his mother had written- he had made the assumption that his mother usually used her office to work on her journalism projects. But then, he found something- a box of pictures. He opened it up, hoping to find a picture of him when he was little, or maybe of his parents' wedding. But instead he found pictures of his mother, when she was in high school.

Mostly, they were of her looking very happy, with two other girls- a gothic looking girl and a short girl with brown hair. Also in the drawer was his mother's high school yearbook. He flipped through it, and in the back found the pages with room for signatures. There weren't many, but there were two that stood out.

"I wish you good electric waves this summer," –Hana, and "Thank you so much for being my friend! I'm so sorry for any trouble I may have caused you!"

Tohru. Tai laughed a little. This Tohru was certainly an eccentric person. He flipped back to the pictures of the students. He immediately found 'Saki Hanajima', the gothic girl. Unlike many of the other students, she did not have a fake smile. She looked very serious, with a blank expression on her face. It was one of those pictures where you move around, but the eyes still look like they're staring right at you. He felt a little chill and quickly flipped back to the previous page, hoping to find this 'Tohru'. Sure enough, he saw a happy, smiling 'Tohru Honda' on the page. Her picture stuck out, because it was easy to tell that her smile was real, unlike the others. Wait… that smile reminded him of someone… but he couldn't quite put his finger on who it was. He then put the yearbook back in the drawer, in the same place that it had been before, so that his mother would not suspect that he had been there.

Finally, he found a small, black folder. He gingerly held it, and carefully opened it, not wanting it to rip it or get fingerprints on it; that would be a dead giveaway that he had been looking in the drawer. But inside, to his perfect content, he found a small, off-white piece of paper, which he identified as a birth certificate. He took it out of the folder and surveyed it. It read as follows:

Name: Sohma, Tai

Date of Birth: May 13, 2005

Mother: Honda, Tohru

Father:

Weight: 7lbs, 4oz

Length: 20 ½ inches

Tai gaped. Tohru Honda? Wasn't that the girl that he had just been looking at, a minute ago? How could she be his mother? And there was no mention of a father. Shouldn't it say that his father was Kureno Sohma? After all, the last names matched! It just wouldn't add up! It had to be a mistake. Definitely a mistake. Arisa Uotani was his mother, not this Tohru! But he had a sinking feeling that maybe it _wasn't_ a mistake. It was true that he didn't look like either of his parents very much- he had dark auburn hair, and he was pretty short; both of his parents had blonde hair, and were tall. And he had just figured out who Tohru reminded him of- himself. Tai jumped as he heard footsteps. The door creaked, and his "father" stepped into the room.

"Tai, what are you doing? It's late and you need to go to bed-" But he stopped right in his tracks when he saw what Tai was holding.

"Dad- or…" he remembered what he had just read, "Whoever you are," he said coldly, "explain this to me. _Now._"


	3. Burning Heat

Chapter 3: Burning Heat

Kyo Sohma looked around, surveying his surroundings. A mall, packed with people, smiling, laughing, having fun. People coming in and out of shops, buying and buying and buying. He hated them all. 'Stupid, ignorant people," he muttered to himself. Actually, it wasn't just these people that he hated. It was _everyone. _Even himself. Everyone was so naïve about what was going on around them; all they cared about was themselves and their own private lives. They thought that everyone was good in some way; everyone cared about the world and other people. Well, no one had ever tried to murder _them_, especially not the only person they ever cared about.

What was he doing in that mall, anyway? He honestly didn't know. He just seemed to wander around these days, with no purpose whatsoever. Did he come here to marvel at the stupidity of the human race? Or, perhaps, to make one of his sad attempts to rejoin them? No. Whatever he thought of just wasn't the answer, and this seemed to make him angrier and angrier.

He stopped dead in his tracks. He had come to an old, dirty, video arcade, located in the center of the mall. This wouldn't usually have aroused his interest, if it weren't for the machine in the window of the mall- a DDR machine. That machine was the cause of all his pain, his suffering. It had sucked out any trace of sanity inside him; it had caused him to become… a killer, a menace to society. His anger began to swell up inside him once again. He swore that he would try to stop the madness that consumed him; he would try to end the suffering of others and to himself. But he just needed relief!

Half disgusted with himself, half filled with ecstasy, he took the cigarette lighter from his pocket. He looked ever so casual (except for the fact that he was dressed in all black and had most of his face covered) as he stood outside of the doorway and lit a cigarette. He leaned against the wall, and to other people, he was just an ordinary passerby, stopping to have a quick smoke. He took only a single puff before tossing the cigarette inside of the arcade, as well as a small, glass bottle of lighter fluid.

He was already long gone when he began to hear the screams, the cries of, "fire!" and the parents searching for their children. He almost pitied the ones in the back of the arcade, who most likely would not be able to escape in time. He smiled to himself. It was a job well done. Just the relief he had been looking for…

As Tohru's son, Tai Sohma, stepped into the room, she did not know what to think. It seemed like she was supposed to be thrilled to see him, and he would be dying to see her, and they would have some kind of a mushy-gushy mother/son reunion. But the truth was, she didn't feel like rushing up and hugging him. She hadn't seen him since the day she gave birth to him; if he had not been introduced to her, she wouldn't have even recognized him. And he had never seen her before in his life, or at least since he was a tiny infant. So instead of embracing each other, or exchanging loving words, they simply stared at each other, unaware of what they should do next. Dr. Sherman and her volunteers watched them eagerly, as if they were looking at animals in a zoo. However, when they noticed the awkward silence, Dr. Sherman said,

"Um… I'll leave you two alone for a bit, okay?" And they hurriedly left, not expecting a reply. They looked at each other for a minute longer, until thankfully, Tohru's son broke the silence.

"So… you're my real mother?" He said, trying to get rid of the awkwardness.

"I suppose I am," said Tohru, eyeing her son for any resemblance of herself or… _his father_. "It's been so long… does everyone call you Tai, now?"

"Yes, they do," He said, not yet knowing what to think of Tohru, "so… my mom… I mean, the lady who's been taking care of me… she's one of your friends?"

"Yes… a very dear friend… has she taken good care of you?"

"Yeah, just like a mother…" Tohru sensed bitterness in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Tai. Things just… worked out this way. I really didn't mean to hurt you, I'm so sorry…" She trailed off. She felt as if she were going to cry. Tai did not answer her apologies. He was silent for a moment. Then, he asked a question that he had wanted the answer to for days, and it had never been given to him.

"So… if you're my mother… then, who's my father?" Tohru paused, as if she were fighting the urge to cry, or scream, or something.

"Your father…" She said, her voice wavering, "Your father was a very good man…"

"Was?"

"Yes, was… you see…" she continued regretfully, "your father… he is dead."

"Dead? How?" Tai said, sounding sad, disappointed, and concerned all at once.

"I can't tell you that!" She cried, finally giving in and lashing out. She then realized that she had yelled at her son, and said, "I mean, I'm sorry, but that's just not something I can tell you right now…"

"Well then, who was he?" Demanded Tai, becoming aggravated at her for not answering him.

"I can't tell you that, either!" She replied, once again raising her voice.

"Why not?" Tai yelled back.

That's when Dr. Sherman burst into the room, having heard raised voices.

"Okay, I think this visit has gone long enough," she said in a falsely cheerful tone, "Tai, I'll escort you back to your family, now…"

"They're not my family!" Tai cried, almost in tears, "I don't even know who my real family is!" He then gave Tohru a dark look. Tohru could only silently tell him she was sorry. She wished that she could tell him everything, about the white room, about how his father had died, about who he was… but she could barely admit those things to herself, much less to another person.

When the two of them had left the room, and were far enough away, she turned on the news again. She grabbed a large piece of her birthday cake, and began to stuff herself as she watched the reporter on the screen. She was only half paying attention, with her thoughts of all of the events that had just happened, when the reporter said something that made her go cold:

"Top story tonight: A video arcade inside the local mall was burned down. 4 people killed, 6 in critical condition. The fire was caused by a man throwing a cigarette inside of the arcade, as well as a bottle of flammable liquid. He was described to be in his late twenties, around 5"8", with light red hair, wearing all black. We don't have any identifiable pictures of his face, but we warn you, be on the lookout! On to the second story: a man in Florida has claimed to have seen a UFO…"

Tohru tuned the rest out. She knew it was impossible. He was dead; she was sure of it! But maybe… just maybe… could it be _Him_? Well, if it was Him, she knew one thing: He'd be looking for revenge.


	4. Distortion

Chapter 4: Distortion

Cameras. Microphones. Noisy, pushy reporters. Tohru Honda was awakened by loud voices outside. She groaned- someone was creating an article in the paper about the Institution. Hopefully, the reporters would stay out of her room- she really didn't want to be bothered. She had too much on her mind to talk to anybody, especially if anything she said would be warped and then displayed to the public eye.

She could hear the woman in the next room being interviewed.

"So… Mrs. Johnson, what has your life been like at Green Oaks?"

"………"

"Mrs. Johnson, did you here the question?"

"………."

"Mrs. Johnson, it would be great if you could answer some of these nice lady's questions. After you do that, you may go to lunch, and you may have some delicious fried chicken, and maybe even some chocolate cake…"

"NOOO! GO AWAY NOW! LEAVE ME ALONE! I HAVE A RIGHT TO MY OWN PRIVACY! JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK I'M A CRACKPOT DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T HAVE RIGHTS…" After yelling at the reporter and Dr. Sherman, Mrs. Johnson returned to her usual routine, which always went a bit like this: "You people never ever listen. No one ever listens to poor little me. I can say anything, even if it's the most important damn thing in the whole goddamn world and no one would even care, cause no one ever listens to me, they just hear blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, well, maybe some day I _will_ have something important to say, huh? And maybe then I won't tell anyone! It's just the same, since they wouldn't listen to a "crazy" old lady anyway…" Dr. Sherman uttered an exasperated sigh, and they left Mrs. Johnson to her muttering. Tohru chuckled. What did they think they would get out of that old bat, anyhow?

Then, to Tohru's dismay, there was a knock at the door. She groaned.

"Miss Honda, please let us in…" Dr. Sherman said when she didn't answer the door. She reluctantly turned the knob, and in stepped the Dr. Sherman and a blonde reporter, who looked oddly familiar…

"Alright, Miss Honda, this lady is going to ask you a few questions now, okay? It won't take long at all, and then you will be excused to lunch." Tohru nodded, just out of habit. There was just something weird about Dr. Sherman's voice that made you want to agree with her.

"Alright, then… I suppose I'll leave you two alone for a bit, alright?" Dr. Sherman grinned her fake smile again and gently closed the door as she exited the room.

Tohru suddenly realized who the reporter was.

"Uo!" She said. Arisa Uotani laughed.

"No one has called me that for years and years. I'm really sorry to bother you with this whole newspaper thing, but it's the only way I can see you… I'm not supposed to, you know…"

"Why not?" inquired Tohru, who was now extremely confused.

"Well… it's… complicated…" She seemed like she was hiding something. Tohru decided not to push it.

"So… you're a reporter now?" Tohru said, eyeing Arisa's professional looking uniform.

"Journalist, actually," she said, "crazy, isn't it?" Tohru nodded.

"So… what ever happened to Hana? Or, I suppose people call her Saki now…" A dark look came over Arisa's face.

"…That's… complicated, too…." She said in a tone that was so serious that it was almost disturbing. This didn't exactly make Tohru feel comfortable…

"So, the actual reason why I'm here," she lowered her voice, "is to ask you something… about Tai," she said. For some reason, Tohru felt like crying.

"Yes?"

"Well… yesterday… after you had a visit with him… he came home very upset. What… happened?"

"I guess he just wasn't very used to the fact that I'm his mother…"

"I guess not," Arisa eyed her suspiciously. Tohru bit her lip. She did not want to reveal the part when Tai had asked her about his father. For some reason, she didn't think that Arisa would be very happy that she had kept it a secret from him. In fact, Tohru was pretty sure that Arisa didn't know the _real_ truth about Tai's father herself. And there was no way that she was going to reveal _that_.

"Only about two more minutes in there, okay Mrs. Uotani?" Came Dr. Sherman's disgustingly cheerful voice from another room.

"Listen… I've got to leave, so let me get a few pictures that I can use in the article. I'll just make up some interview crap later, so I won't get nailed for coming to see you, okay?" Tohru did not have time to answer, for Arisa whipped out her camera and snapped several shots almost in the blink of an eye.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" Arisa said, as she hugged Tohru, just like the old days. She was about to leave, when she turned around one more time and said, "that chocolate cake that you guys have here looks pretty good… do you think they'd give me some? I'm starving…" Tohru laughed and told her it was in the kitchen. Yeah, that was definitely the same old Uo. She wished that she were the same old Tohru, just like before… She almost had blink away tears. She heard the ringing of the lunch bell, but decided she'd skip it. She wasn't hungry anyway, and she didn't want to deal with a big crowd of people. She then lay back down in her warm bed, the only place where she was safe. She closed her eyes, fell asleep almost instantly, and began having dreams of the past.

She had not had these sort of dreams for a long time; not since she had first came to the Institution. They always began with the cries of an infant. The screams and screeches were so loud and pitiful that Tohru couldn't stand it.

"Give me back my baby! Why are you taking him away from me? Give me back my little boy! Give him back!" A much younger Tohru sobbed. She tried to get up, and try to retrieve her baby, but she was in too much pain from the birth.

"It's for your own good, Tohru…" came a voice. But Tohru could not tell whose it was, because it was very dark in her dream. Everything now would grow very quiet, with her sobs and the baby's cries fading away. She felt a temporary relief, that all of the terrible noises were gone, but it was pointless, for the next dream was even more disturbing than the first.

She sat in a chair, in the middle of a vast, black room. A tall man stood in front of her, and she could see everything but his face. The man spoke, clearly and strongly, as he asked just one question:

"Who is the father?" The man's voice was overpoweringly loud, and the question echoed through her head again and again, and the volume increased every time:

"who is the father?"

"Who is the father?"

**"Who is the father?"**

**"WHO IS THE FATHER?"**

Tohru tried with all of her will to answer that question, hoping that her answer would silence the awful voice, but her lips would not part, nor would any words escape them. She tried again and again to answer the question, but no sound would come out. As she became more and more frustrated with herself, the music began to play in the back of her mind again. It somehow both mixed and clashed with the voice, and she began to scream, scream at the top of her lungs, but still she could not speak. She could only cry in agony.

She woke up in a cold sweat, panting and shaking. That was a dreadful dream; even more dreadful than the first time that she had dreamed it. She looked at the clock on her wall. It was 1:04 AM. She knew that she would probably not be able to sleep for the whole rest of the night, so she rubbed her eyes and sat up. Outside in the hall, she heard a door slam. Who in the institution could be out at this hour? The doctors had all left, except for the night watchman, and all of the patients were locked in their rooms. The door sounded pretty close by; it could have been the next-door down. Tohru's room was at the end of the hall, so it would have had to be Mrs. Johnson, since the next room over from hers was vacant. But why would Mrs. Johnson be out at this hour? Oh, well. That was just one more mystery that Tohru didn't understand…

Kyo stood outside a small, dirty little market, next to the payphones and the newspaper machines. He was so damn bored; he couldn't stand it anymore. And he needed a cigarette, but he had tossed out his only pack after he burned down that arcade place. Yeah, you might think that he'd be running from the police, but there was no real reason. He had dyed his hair, and had his sunglasses on and his trench coat collar pulled over half his face most of the time, so it wasn't very likely that anyone would recognize him. And he was really far away from the crime scene, anyway. Trying to satisfy his boredom, he put a quarter in the newspaper machine and bought one, just like a model citizen. He didn't even try to use a fake coin or anything. That'd really make his parents proud… he bit his lip when he thought about his parents. Especially about his mother… he quickly shut the bad thoughts out of his head. He was tough enough not too think about the goddamn past. It made him mad as hell. He flipped through the newspaper, skipping the front page, which read, "Interview With a Rockville Mall Fire Survivor". He honestly didn't care who survived and who kicked the bucket. He looked in the comic's section, and the sports section. He was about to toss the newspaper out, when an article caught his eye. Well, not the article, exactly… more like a person in the article…

"Green Oaks Mental Institution: Are Patients Really Happy Here?" The article included an interview with the head doctor, and a few words from the patients. It was an ordinary article, except for one picture of a small, skinny brunette, with large, scared looking eyes. Was it… her? He studied the picture further. Yes, it was definitely her. He grinned. So he had finally found her…


	5. Backtracking Forward

Chapter 5: Backtracking Forward

_Note: The first half of this chapter takes place before the last chapter (Chapter 4). I couldn't find anywhere to insert it earlier, so I'm sorry for any confusion. But honestly, if you are someone that gets confused very easily, then you probably shouldn't be reading this story…_

_ The Frog from Hell_

"Hey, Mom, I'm leaving for school!" Called Tai from just inside the front door. It still felt a bit strange calling her "mom" even though he now knew she wasn't actually his mother.

"No, Tai, wait!" yelled Arisa, who bounded into the living room. Her hair was still soapy and she had a towel wrapped around her- she had obviously just run out of the shower. "I don't want you walking to school alone! Don't you remember that story on the news? There's a killer around, and I don't want you to run into him, squirt." She ruffled his hair. "I'll take you to school today."

"Don't you have to be at work in ten minutes to do that article thing?"

"Well, I was going to be late anyway, so I might as well take you."

"Why doesn't Dad take me?"

"You ask way too many questions, squirt…" she was trying to sound like she was joking, but something in her voice sounded a little uneasy. "Just get in the car. I'll be ready in five minutes, okay?"

"Okay." answered Tai. He picked up his "Adolescent Deformed Samurai Tortoises" patterned backpack and went out to the car.

He sat in the front passenger seat, although his mother didn't like him to because she was afraid he would be killed by the air bag. He took out his illegal school item, his Walkman and headphones, and began listening. He stared at his watch and saw the minutes go by. 1 minute, two minutes, five minutes, seven minutes… if his mom didn't hurry up, he was going to be late for school. He looked out the window, hoping to find something interesting. The day before, his neighbor had accidentally blown away their Chihuahua puppy with a leaf blower. Hopefully, he'd be lucky again today…

However, there was nothing interesting happening in the neighborhood today. There wasn't even anyone out on the street… wait… there was one person. He was walking casually along the street, smoking a cigarette, with his free hand in his coat pocket. His _black_coat pocket. In fact, the man's entire outfit was black, even his gloves and shoes. For some reason, Tai felt a bit scared. On the news, they had said that the man who burned down that building was wearing all black, right? But then Tai realized that he was jumping to conclusions, and nervously laughed to himself. He was really turning into his mother… But still, for some reason, he felt oddly nervous…

Then, all of a sudden, something hit the window. Tai jerked his head around. He uttered a sigh of relief when he noticed that it was just his mother knocking on the window. She mouthed 'unlock the door' and he noticed that he was clutching the armrest with a shaking hand, and that he had in fact locked the doors. He pushed the unlock button and his mother got into the car.

"Miss me?" She said jokingly. Tai did not reply, because he was still watching the man on the side of the street. Then, just as the engine started up, the man, having heard the noise, looked over at their car and locked eyes with Tai. Well, not exactly eyes; the man was wearing sunglasses, but Tai felt a strange sensation travel throughout his body. It was as if he knew the man, or that he had at least seen him before, although he was sure he hadn't. It was unnerving. Tai looked away from the man, trying to rid himself of the odd sensation. It made him so nervous; for a minute he was sure that that man was the killer. But he was just jumping to conclusions, right? The car pulled out of the street, now too far away to see the man's single lock of orange hair hanging down in front of his face.

Tohru got out of bed, still shaking from her disturbing dreams. She wandered over to her door. For some reason, she turned the handle, although she knew that it was bound to be locked. But wait… it wasn't locked! Had they forgotten to lock her door that night? That seemed to be the only explanation. But it was very strange- in all of Tohru's twelve years at the Institution, they had not once forgotten to lock the doors. Tohru stepped out into the hall. If they had forgotten to lock her door, then they had probably forgotten to lock Mrs. Johnson's door as well. That was why she was out of her room late at night. It all made sense now. Tohru's stomach growled. She remembered that she hadn't had any lunch, or dinner, for that matter. The only time she had been this hungry before was… her head began to throb with the dull beat of the music. She shook her head, shutting it out of her mind. She absolutely could not afford to think about the past… especially not _that _aspect of it…

She wandered down the hall to the kitchen, being as quiet as possible and looking out for the night watchman. The kitchen was not far at all from her room, and she soon stood before the large metal doors. She turned the handle, expecting the doors to be locked, but they weren't. Maybe the whole wing was unlocked… She quietly made her way over to the large refrigerator, looking for some left over macaroni or perhaps even some chocolate cake. But before she opened it, she noticed something- there was someone lying sprawled on the floor. She ran across the room and knelt down by the figure. It was a girl, with blonde hair spilt across her face. Oh, no… she hoped she was wrong, but this girl looked an awful lot like… Uo!

She frantically felt for a pulse. To her relief, she found one- but it was racing! She had to go to the first aid wing! She tried to pick up the collapsed woman, but just as she started to, she heard a voice demand,

"Who goes there?" She whipped her head around and saw the night watchman looming in the doorway. Why had she not closed the door? But there was no time to explain herself now.

"There's someone who fainted! I mean, she's out cold and I don't know what to do! Please help!" She cried out as quickly as she could. The watchman looked skeptical, but then came up to her. He noticed Uo and noticed that Tohru was telling the truth, and his voice took up a much more urgent tone.

"We've got to call an ambulance," he said. He took a cell phone out of his pocket and dialed "911". He had a brief conversation, explaining to them what had happened, and then closed the phone.

"Now, you go back to bed," He said, "and since all this happened, maybe you'll be lucky and I won't tell Dr. Sherman you were out here," he winked at her. She nodded and started back to her room. Now she would definitely not be able to sleep tonight…


	6. Cat Scratch Fever

Chapter 6: Cat Scratch Fever

Tohru awakened to… nothing. It was just silence, pure silence. Except for Mrs. Johnson muttering to herself next door. Tohru got out of bed and fumbled with her doorknob, in an attempt to leave her room and discover why everything was so quiet. But it was locked… _locked_… Tohru's mind was all of a sudden flooded with memories of the night before. Mrs. Johnson being awake, the door being unlocked… finding Uo on the ground in the kitchen… how on earth did she manage to get to sleep? On the other hand, she did feel very tired- she probably didn't get to sleep until two or three in the morning.

She sat back down on her bed, and turned on the news. There was nothing very interesting. There was still a minor story about how they were tracking the man who burned down the arcade, but that was in a very insignificant part of the program. People were already starting to disregard it. But, if what Tohru suspected was true… than they should be taking this very seriously.

She heard a knocking on the wall.

"Tohru?" came the raspy voice of an older woman.

"Yes, Mrs. Johnson?" she said. It was strange that Mrs. Johnston would attempt to talk to her. Mrs. Johnson hardly ever spoke to anybody, for the most part.

"Do you know what's going on?" she said, "it's late, and they still haven't let us out of our rooms…" Tohru looked at the clock in her room, and indeed it was late- 10:45am. The doctors usually woke the patients at around 9:00.

"I heard that there's a lot of people sick, and that half the Institution's in the hospital…" This was news to Tohru. But how would Mrs. Johnson know anything like that? There weren't any windows in her room… were there? Tohru admitted that she had never seen the inside of Mrs. Johnson's room. Mrs. Johnson kept babbling, like she was upset or something, when Tohru said,

"Okay, okay, Mrs. Johnson-"

"Please call me Penelope," she interrupted. Tohru was beginning to get a little annoyed with her…

"Okay, _Penelope…"_

"Please don't say "okay", dear; I don't mean to be offensive, but it really doesn't aid in how intelligent you sound-"

"Alright, alright… if you'd just let me finish-"

"There you go again, you young people, think you're hot stuff, don't you? But you will never, ever listen to an old bird like me, nope, nada, never. You don't care if I have anything important to say; in all my years, I've never met anyone your age that will even listen to one word I have to say, not one word. You'd think there'd at least be one, but no, because no one ever listens to me. It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people are, only listening to their young, foolish selves, and never to anyone who actually knows about the damn world, you know? No, you don't know because you're not listening, nope, you never listen… see? You're proving my point right now! …

Tohru sighed. Mrs. Johnson definitely had issues… but the old lady's monologue was interrupted by a voice on the loud speaker:

"Attention! May I have everyone's attention please?" The voice was Dr. Sherman's, and it seemed like she was nervous, but was trying to cover it up with her happy, perky personality. "All patients should come to the dining hall, please! Your doors have been unlocked. All patients to the dining hall! Thank you."

What could this be about? Somehow, Tohru felt very uneasy. This just… wasn't normal. Something didn't feel right- this had to be something very important. Tohru left her room and made her way to the dining hall. She noticed that over the kitchen doors there was caution tape, and that there were very few people in the halls. Had many of them not heard the announcement? Or were they really sick, like Mrs. Johnson had said?

Tohru entered the dining hall. She didn't know why they called it a dining hall, actually. It was more of a dirty cafeteria. Dining hall simply sounded more elegant, she thought. She looked around. There weren't very many people. There were over two hundred people at the Institution, but right now, there were only about 65.

After the "close observation" group of about 10, entered the room, escorted by two doctors, and the doors were closed, Dr. Sherman, standing on a small stage, began to speak:

"Ladies and gentleman, I regret to inform you that we have a very… unfortunate announcement today…" there were a few whispers, but other than that, the "audience" grew very quiet.

"There is… an epidemic circulating around Green Oaks," she continued, "we are not sure what it could be yet, but signs point to food poisoning." Her voice began to break, but she still managed to keep together her "all under control" tone. "Three people…" she said, her voice wavering dangerously, "three people… have already died." the crowd began to talk all at once, mostly whispers, but even some yells and screams.

"If you would all be quiet, please!" Now, this time, Dr. Sherman's voice definitely did not sound sweet. In spite of herself, Tohru almost laughed. So she wasn't happy and together all the time…

"We are doing all that we can… but we are still in the dark about how to treat this illness," she was back to her regular charade. "Although, it's very probable that this is just extremely toxic food poisoning, we are not entirely sure, so we advise you to avoid contact with anyone other than yourself, wash your hands frequently, and by all means, if you feel dizzy, lightheaded, or nauseous, please notify a doctor immediately. Thank you. You are all excused." Dr. Sherman immediately buried her head in her hands. Her two volunteers rushed up to comfort her. A miniature riot was started. People were throwing whatever they could get their hands on, and there was an overpowering roar of people yelling. It was starting to hurt Tohru's head. The voices just got louder, and louder… until Tohru just snapped.

"BE QUIET, ALL OF YOU!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. There was a hush. They were all staring at her, and she stood there dumbly, not knowing what she should say or do.

"Just go back to you rooms… everything will be fine, everything will be fine…" Tohru unexpectedly began to cry. The doors were opened, and the patients flooded out of the dining hall. Tohru trailed behind. She was the most confused that she had ever been in her entire life. Even more confused than when she was inside… _the room._ Her head began to throb again with the sound of the music. It was the loudest and the worst that it had ever been before. After all that had happened, she just couldn't take it. She dropped to her knees, clutching her ears with shaking hands. Just when she thought that she was going to scream, she felt a hand on her shoulder. The music faded a bit, and she turned around to see Dr. Sherman.

"Miss Honda," she said sternly, "I have to speak with you. Please gather your things and come to my office." Tohru nodded and started towards her room. This certainly didn't make matters any less complicated…

"I need to speak to Tohru Honda," "I'm sorry, but Green Oaks isn't allowing the patients any phone calls right now-" 

"_I need to speak with her. _Now._"_

"_I'm sorry, sir, but we're having a bit of a problem here, if you would kindly give me a call back number, I'll inform you when you may speak to her-"_

"_Fine, if you want to do it the hard way…"_

_CLICK_


	7. Dead Wrong

Chapter 7: Dead Wrong

Tai sat anxiously in the hospital waiting room. Today was the day that he was supposed to get an update on his mother's condition. He drummed his fingers on a small table next to his chair with one hand, and with his other hand, he was flipping through his mom's high school yearbook. He was looking through the pages and pages of faces, searching for something, but he wasn't sure what. He had seen his mothers picture and Tohru Honda's picture what seemed like a thousand times. But he kept flipping. Then, something finally caught his eye. There were two Sohma's in a row: "Yuki Sohma", and "Kyo Sohma". Interesting- the same last name as his dad. Yuki smiled a sweet, but sort of cheesy smile. Tai flipped back to the front of the book, where the student council officers were. Sure enough, Yuki was the student council president. He looked like a real big shot, from what Tai could see. He was obviously popular- in every picture, he was with a bunch of girls, always smiling. His smiles always looked kind of fake, though, like he didn't mean it. However, there was one picture of Yuki, and another guy. This guy looked kind of "punk", with a spiked collar, and the sleeves of his school uniform torn off. However, both he and Yuki were smiling sincerely, like they were good friends. Not having seen him in the seniors' section, Tai flipped to the juniors' section and quickly found the punk looking guy with the white hair.

"Hatsuharu Sohma," it read. Strange… another Sohma? And to top that off, right next to Hatsuharu was "Momiji Sohma", a blonde boy who looked to be a lot younger than a junior in high school. Tai flipped back to the seniors' page, where he'd been looking before. He looked at Kyo's picture. When he looked at that picture, a chill went down his spine. He looked so familiar! But he was positive that he'd never met him before, and even if he had, he'd probably look a lot different now. It was the same odd feeling he'd felt when he'd seen that man on the street…

"Is there a "Tai Sohma" here?" called a nurse from the doorway. Tai raised his hand and walked over to her, eager for a report about his mother. However, the nurse stayed silent, as if she was hiding something.

"So… is she okay? Is she gonna be okay?" Tai said, both desperate for the answer and dreading it.

"Tai… I have some bad news," the nurse said. Tai's heart was racing. "Tai… your mother is dying… and she would like to see you… for just a moment." Tears began to cloud Tai's vision. He nodded. The nurse turned around and lead Tai to his mother's room. He entered the room, taking soft steps, not making a sound. He stood by his mom's bed. She looked very pale, and she was hooked up to two monitors. She turned her head to look at him, and it seemed to take up all of her strength.

"Tai…" she said, and her voice was very weak and raspy, "don't worry about me… don't dwell on the past. I wish I could have known you for longer… but don't worry… you've got your whole life ahead of you, so go out and live it. Okay, squirt?" She laughed a tiny bit and held his hand. "It was great knowing you…" she closed her eyes. On impulse, Tai cried,

"Wait!" Arisa opened her tired eyes once again. "Mom… who… who is my father? I mean, my real father," He said. He could barely look at his mother; his eyes were filled with tears.

"Your father… K… Kyo So-" her voice faded into nothing, and she closed her weary eyes again… for good.

Tohru stepped into Dr. Sherman's office, feeling very nervous and uncomfortable. Her palms were sweaty, she felt nauseous, and on her life, she couldn't figure out why Dr. Sherman had wanted her to come there. Dr. Sherman sat at her desk, filling out some papers. Tohru thought that she was oblivious to her presence, when she said,

"Yes, Miss Honda, if you would kindly sit down…" Tohru obeyed and sat down in one of the chairs that were neatly aligned against the wall.

"Dr. Sherman looked up from her paperwork. She studied Tohru and her surroundings. "Have you brought all of your things?" she asked, once again speaking to Tohru as if she were a child. Tohru nodded.

"Okay, then… Tohru, I'm sorry for any discomfort, but I'm afraid we're moving you…"

"Moving me? Where?" Tohru inquired. There were only four wings in the institution: The Recovery wing, the Close Observation wing, the Isolation wing, and the Staff and Services wing. Tohru herself had first been housed in the Isolation wing, which was for patients who had recently arrived, and were being studied for their condition. Tohru shuddered- she had very bad memories from the isolation wing. About a year later, the Staff had still not known what to do with her yet, so they had relocated her in the Recovery wing. She had stayed there ever since, except she had moved rooms a few times. Obviously she could never be housed in the Staff and Services wing, and she didn't know why she would be moved to the Close Observation wing. That wing was for the patients with _severe_ problems- like they badly mutilated themselves, almost to death, or they had killed massive amounts of people. Some of them refused to come out of their rooms, or they were mute, or weird things like that. There was no way Tohru could end up in _that_ wing. They must just be moving her to another room, like they had done so many times. That made perfect sense. But… something in Dr. Sherman's voice didn't seem quite assuring.

"Tohru," she continued, "we're moving you to the Close Observation wing." Tohru's heart sank and her stomach flipped inside out. Why would they move her there? She hadn't done anything that would make her legible to be moved there… or had she? Her thoughts immediately flashed back to that night, when she had found Uo lying on the ground. She had been out of her room late at night, which was completely forbidden for patients. However, that certainly wasn't enough to get her into the Close Observation wing. Unless… Tohru gasped. Dr. Sherman thought that _she _was responsible for Uo's condition. She had been out late at night, and was found with a dead body… no, not dead, don't say dead… Tohru bit her lip and swallowed the lump in her throat. Although she already knew what the answer was going to be, she inquired,

"Why?"

"Tohru…" The Doctor's voice shook, "I was informed about Sunday night, how you were found with reporter Uotani… and well… it turns out that she was infected with the same poison- it is poison, by the way, so it's not contagious- that all of the rest of the patients have. And although I don't personally think that you could have been responsible for this dreadful act… well, we can never be too careful…" she gave Tohru a questioning look. Tohru could tell that she wasn't quite being truthful about believing that she hadn't poisoned Uo. In fact, she's bet that it was Dr. Sherman's suggestion that Tohru had been responsible. Then, there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Dr. Sherman called cheerfully. Two tall, burly men stepped through the door. They looked mean, like they had each won a thousand fights, and like they could punch though a brick wall.

"Miss Honda, if you would gather your things, these two nice men will show you back to your room now, okay?"


	8. Pattern Recognition

Chapter 8: Progression 

There Tai was, back in his mother's old office. He had not the slightest idea what he was looking for, now that he knew who his father was and everything. It was pretty pathetic- his father was dead and his mother was in an insane asylum. Tai laughed while he cried. No, he did not cry, he sobbed. Now he had nobody. His "dad" had been gone for three days now, and his mother was… deceased. And they weren't even his real parents in the first place. After, he left the hospital, he walked back to his home, not knowing what else to do. He went to his mom's office, and curled up in a ball and slept in the big armchair, wishing that she were there. None of this seemed real at all, the happenings of the past week. It felt so strange to think that only seven days ago, his life was perfectly normal. Now, he had no one. No one at all…

And now, he was searching through the drawers again. There was a huge pile of newspaper clippings, books, and papers on the ground around him. He had cleared out almost all of the drawers. There was only one left. He opened the drawer slowly. There weren't very many things in the drawer. Inside was an address book, a single newspaper clipping, and a folder. First, he looked at the newspaper clipping.

"Scientist Arrested for Conducting Illegal Experiments" it read. It showed a picture of a tall man, who looked a bit depressed, in a lab coat. For some reason, Tai felt a little sorry for the man. He continued reading.

"Doctor Hatori Sohma was arrested on Friday, May 13th, accused of over 15 different charges. He had been using the basement of the Green Oaks Mental Institution in order to conduct an experiment, which apparently revolved around video games. The doctor claimed that "it was for the good of science, and man kind alike", but the police did not quite buy this story. Apparently, three teenagers were involved in this experiment, and only two survived, one of which is missing."

Friday, May 13… that was Tai's birthday! That was a pretty big coincidence… he looked at the date at the bottom of the article- 2005. Wow- that was the exact date that Tai was born. Next, Tai opened up the folder. Inside was a thick stack of papers, all stapled together. "Registered copy" it said at the top. The title was "P.S.E.2". Tai had no idea what that could mean. He began to read onward. Most of it, he couldn't understand. It said things like, "small signs of aggression, insomnia, and unusual behavior" and, "signs not progressing as planned, INOB…" He put two and two together, and made the assumption that the experiment (at least, he was pretty sure it was an experiment) was the same one mentioned in the newspaper article. He was very confused as to why his mother would have either of these things, though. In his curiosity, he was hoping to find the names of the teenagers involved in the experiment, but in the paper, they were just mentioned as "subject A", and "subject B", and "M1". Tai didn't know what "M1" meant either. He put the folder away back in the drawer. But right before he did, he noticed something at the bottom of the drawer- another newspaper clipping. This one read, "Missing- Kyo Sohma" Tai's eyes widened. That was… his father? Tai looked at the date at the bottom of the page: February 2010. This one was much more recent, then. He read on: "date missing: March 12th, 2005. That was strange. In his photo, he had looked much older… then, he saw at the bottom: "age progression photo". That explained it. Wait… that face looked so familiar. In fact, Tai was _positive_ he had seen it before. But where? He thought about it for a moment. His stomach flipped as he remembered. He frantically searched for the newspaper on his mother's desk. He found it, and sure enough, on the front cover, it read: "Building in Rockville Mall Burned to the Ground!" The picture underneath showed the suspected killer, well, only about a quarter of his face, but it showed the hair and everything. He compared it with the older photo. Sure enough, they looked very similar. In the newer one, he looked a little older, and his hair was different, but what shocked him was that they had the exact same pair of eyes. The same eyes that Tai had.

Tohru looked around her new room. It was much dingier than the last one, and the bed looked a little hard and crusty. There was a picture on the wall, of a pier and a sunset, but that was crooked and the frame was filthy. Also, in her old room, she had had a window with a decent view of outside. Here, there was only a tiny little barred window, barely big enough for her to put her hand through. She put her things down next to her bed and sighed. She was really going to enjoy her stay here…

Wanting to forget about it all, she rubbed her eyes and lay down on her new bed. She drifted off to sleep. She didn't have any dreams, and it seemed like only five seconds later that she was awakened. Her clock read "10:04 pm". She sat up. On her lap was a white, folded up piece of paper. She unfolded it, curious of what it was and how it got there. There were only five words written on the paper, but enough to send a chill down her spine…

_ "Found you,"_

_-The black cat_


	9. Back to the Beginning Again

_Before this chapter, I have a few notes. I am truly not a perfect writer, and I left a few remaining loose ends at the end of BIDDR. One is that at the very beginning, Yuki had a head injury. This is because when I first started the fic, I hadn't planned on Yuki being "in on it" from the beginning. The one that broke into their house was just Hatori. Yuki went down to see what was going on. Hatori didn't want to be discovered, so he told Yuki about the plan, and Yuki agreed to help. Hatori hit him over the head to knock him out, since he didn't have a sedative. But as my fic morphed and changed, so did that detail, and I haven't edited it out yet, which I will when I am done with TWW. _

_Another is that the curse was broken, and I never explained why. I was going to in the last chapter, but never got around to it. It was broken as part of the experiment, for Hatori felt it might alter the results. _

_Also, some of you have been complaining about certain character deaths. So many people die in this fic, that most likely, your favorite character will eventually kick the bucket. If you can't handle that, than you shouldn't be reading this. _

_The Frog from Hell _

Chapter 9: Back to the Beginning Again

Tai ran as fast as he could towards Green Oaks mental Institution. He had to warn Tohru about Kyo… that he wasn't dead. She could have been lying to him when she said that he was, but something told him that she was being honest.

It was a long way, but Tai didn't have anyone to drive him, and he didn't have any money. He grew very tired, but he knew he had to keep running. After a while, he reached the point where he thought that he wasn't going to make it. He wasn't even halfway there, and it was getting dark. He at least needed to catch his breath if he was going to go on. He sat on a bench. His stomach growled, and his throat was sore and dry. He remembered that he hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day, except for some crackers and cereal. He didn't know how to cook, and there was no one there to cook for him.

He buried his face in his hands and wept. For no one reason, but because he couldn't take it any longer. He wept for a thousand reasons, and not all of them were his own. He was distraught, scared, confused, lonely, and angry all at once. He had no idea what to do with all of this emotion, so he simply sat there and wept.

A black car pulled up. Not just any car, it was a hearse. Tai looked up from his weeping and saw a figure, dressed all in black, step out of the car. The figure came closer, and Tai saw that it was a woman. She was wearing a long, flowing dress, a full cape, and a large hat with a netted veil, all in pure black. She approached Tai, and he began to feel very nervous. There could be some creepy people out on the street at night… The woman stood before Tai and removed her veil. Her eyes and hair were jet black as well.

"You… you are Tai Sohma," she said in a calm, deep voice.

"How do you know that?" He responded bewilderedly. The woman didn't answer.

"I am Saki Hanajima. I will take you to your mother," she said. This lady seemed very strange. Maybe she was trying to kidnap him or something.

"My Mom's dead," he said, his voice sounding meaner than he had intended.

"No," she continued, "your real mother… you were on your way to visit her just now…"

"How do you know this?" Tai inquired, astounded at her.

"I can sense it," she said, and gave him the smallest shadow of a smile. "I can promise you, that I will do you no harm. But if you do not trust me, I understand completely. It's entirely your choice. You could, of course, run the rest of the way…" this odd woman was beginning to frighten Tai. It was like she knew everything about him… "But, by the time that you arrive, I fear it will be too late…" As much as Tai wanted to trust her, he turned his back on her and began to run towards the Institution.

"Wait, Tai!" She called, "it's the last chance- " or, that's what he thought she said, but he wasn't paying much attention. He just knew that he had to get to the institution. He ran and ran and ran, as fast as he could. His body told him to stop, and his legs and his lungs ached, but he kept running. He looked only at the ground. He knew that he was getting closer…

He looked around, and realized that the Institution was very close… he should have been able to see it from where he was… but instead he stopped dead in his tracks. 'No, no, no…' he kept telling himself, 'this isn't the right place, this isn't happening…' but he knew that it _was _happening. He knew that the building that was once an institution was now in flames, and soon, it would not exist at all.

Tohru sat in her bed, stunned having no idea what to do. If she showed anyone the note, especially a doctor, they would probably think that she had written it herself; she was in the "close observation" wing. She had sat in her bed for over an hour, just debating what she should do. The Institution was deathly quiet. It gave her chills down her spine. The only thing she could think of to do was to get out of there. But there was no way- her door was most definitely locked this time… but she could always give it a try. She turned the handle, biting her lip, wishing that it would turn- it was her only hope of survival. She was sure it wasn't going to, though. But… somehow, as if fate was shining on her, the handle turned. She sighed and smiled, so happy that she didn't even think about how suspicious it was that the door was unlocked. She stepped out into the hallway. But then she realized that since she was so sure that the door would be locked, she didn't know what she was going to do once she was out of her room. Where should she go now? Kyo, for all she knew, could be out in that hallway right then and there, waiting to strike. Warily, she walked silently towards where she was pretty sure an exit was. She didn't know her new wing as well as her old one, so she didn't know where this wing's night watchman would be prowling around. Then, she saw him- he was standing right under a very dim light. This watchman was quite plump, with thinning hair. He was distracted; obviously searching for something he had dropped. He was also blocking the exit. She sighed sadly. There wasn't much hope for her escaping.

She leaned against the wall- or at least, she thought it was a wall, but she soon discovered that it was a door handle. It was hard to see, because she was operating from the dim light, and there wasn't even much of that, but she could still make out that it read, "basement". She tried the door handle, and it was unlocked. She had no desire to go into the basement, but she didn't want to be spotted by the night watchman, so she stepped inside. But immediately after stepping through the door, she tripped over something. She yelped a little, and lost her footing, which caused her to fall down a flight of stairs. She made a loud thump at the bottom, and lay stunned for a moment, but soon discovered that she was relatively alright. She felt around for the object that she tripped over. She knew that it was down there with her because she had heard it clatter down the stairs, but she couldn't see it because it was pitch dark. She finally felt something. She picked it up and realized that it was heavy- probably made of metal. It was cool and felt like metal, too. She soon discovered what it was- a gun.

Probably the watchman's- that was what he had been searching for. She put it in her sweatshirt pocket, just in case she needed it later- there was a possibility that Kyo could be near by. That's when she heard a voice come from the top of the stairs, and there was a crack of light.

"Who's there?" Came the watchman's voice. Oh, no- he must have heard her fall down the stairs. She quickly scurried against the wall, crouching so that he would not discover her. She heard footsteps, coming closer and closer, until they were just above her. She could see his feet only two steps up. Thankfully, he did not think to look down, so she was not seen, and the watchman simply shrugged and made his way back up to the hallway.

When she was sure he was gone, she stood up and started to walk. She fell to the ground, however, when she took her first step- there was a sharp pain in her right ankle; she must have sprained or broken it. She stood back up, dragging her foot, and with one hand gripped the wall, and the other felt in front of her. She then reached something- a wall, no, a door… she felt that there was a handle. She turned it and stepped into it. She felt around with both of her arms, and didn't touch anything, so it was probably a room. She then turned back around and felt the wall for a light switch. She found one, and flipped it, having no idea what to expect.

At first, the room was too bright to see anything. It was pure white, and she had just come from pitch dark. Her eyes adjusted, and she was horrified at what she saw- she was in _the room_…

The same room from years ago. The same white room, with no windows, furniture, nothing- just plain white walls and a marble floor. She panicked, because she heard the music again. It was so loud and unbearable, just like the first time she had ever been plagued by it, when she was standing in this same exact spot. She screamed and began to flee the room, when she felt something grab her from behind.

"Tohru…" a familiar male voice said, so nice to see you again…"

Tai ran towards the flames. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe he could still save his mother- she was the only one that he had left. But as he approached the burning building, he could tell that there was no hope. The entrance was entirely blocked by falling debris, and that there was absolutely no way that he could get through. He could tell that most of the inside was burned away, and that if there were any survivors, they would have had to have escaped long ago. He then heard a voice, calling for him.

"Tai! Tai, get away from there!" He turned around and saw two people- his "father" and the strange lady, Saki Hanajima, from earlier. His dad pulled him away from the building and ran so quickly towards Saki's car that Tai could barely keep up.

"Dad? What's going on?" He said, his voice hysterical.

"Just get in the car, Tai," he said, "we'll explain everything…" The two adults got into the front seat, and Tai in the back, and they drove away, not looking back.

Tohru stood stunned, too afraid to move. The man held a knife across her throat. She gasped and trembled. She squirmed a little bit, which caused Kyo's grip to tighten.

"Looks like now, you're in the same position I was, twelve years ago," he said, "in fact, it was exactly twelve years ago, today,"

Tohru still didn't utter a word. She did not have very good reflexes, and this is a time that she could have used some.

"Say something, you goddamn bitch!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, "or I might just kill you right here on the spot! In fact, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" he said. He then laughed, the same laugh as twelve years ago, on the same day, in the same spot. Maybe even the same time.

Tohru bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. What could she do, what could she do? Then, she remembered- _the gun_! Very discreetly, as Kyo was laughing, enjoying his moment of glory, she reached into her pock and grabbed the gun. She felt for the trigger. Preparing to shoot, she took the gun out of her pocket. She could only hope that it was loaded. It was truly her last hope of survival.

As quickly as she could, she held it up behind her head and pulled the trigger. It _was_ loaded, and as there was a loud bang. However, Kyo realized what she was doing, and moved out of the way of the bullet.

"What the-" he said, astonished that she could actually defend herself. Tohru turned around and aimed the gun at Kyo.

"Sorry, Kyo," she said, "but you should never bring a knife to a gun fight," she smiled, and pulled the trigger again. And this time, she didn't miss.

"Dad, who is this? How do you know her?" Tai pleaded to his father.

"This is a friend of your mother," he said, "I'm surprised that you didn't spot her in that high school yearbook you're so fond of," he replied. Then Tai remembered- she _had _been in his mom's yearbook! He had just forgotten!

"Well, why is she here now? And why is that building on fire?" Kureno Sohma stayed silent.

"Tell me!" He cried exasperatedly.

"We honestly don't know," said Saki, her wavy black hair falling over her face.

"Well, is Tohru in there? Is… my mom in there?"

"Do you really want to know the answer to that question?" She said sympathetically, or at least as sympathetically as she was capable of.

Kyo fell to the ground. Tohru was pretty sure that she had hit him in the heart, but she couldn't be sure, so she fired again. And again. But she could tell that he was dead. Her heart was still thumping incredibly fast, and she was still tense, but at least she knew she was safe. She could now go back and tell the doctors everything that happened. They could identify Kyo as the killer. Everything would go back to normal- maybe she could even be moved back to her old room. She turned around, feeling so relieved, that she didn't expect to see Mrs. Johnston, standing in the doorway.

"Why, hello, Tohru," she said with a surprising creepy smile, "fancy seeing you here…"

"Mrs. Johnson?" she said, her voice wavering, "why are you…"

"Oh, I'm here for a very good reason indeed. You don't need to worry about poor old me…" she said almost bitterly. She moved her hands from behind her back, and Tohru noticed that she was holding two things: a gallon of gasoline and a box of matches.

"W… where did you…?" Tohru began, now terrified of this seemingly harmless old lady.

"Where did I get these?" Mrs. Johnson continued, "I got these from the supply room, the same place I found… the _rat poison._" Tohru, for once in her life, put two and two together.

"You mean…?" She was shocked at who the culprit was,

"Yes, I was responsible for the food poisoning. By the way, it was in the chocolate cake. Such a pity that I had to ruin it…" Tohru could not let this go on any longer. She was going to end up killed… she pulled out her gun and fired at Mrs. Johnson. Well, she tried to fire, anyway. She realized, in complete horror, that it was empty- she had used all of her bullets on Kyo. Mrs. Johnson just smiled, as if she hadn't even seen Tohru pull the trigger.

"I'm sorry, dear," she said as she began to pour out the gasoline onto the floor, "but you should have listened to me… you know nobody ever listens…"


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue

Tai sat his bedroom, thinking to himself. Now fifteen, and living in a new place, going to a different school, he did not often look back on the past. But today, on a rainy day, with nothing better to do, thinking back was about the only thing that came to mind.

He remembered meeting his real mother, Tohru Honda, on that fateful day that was now just a vague memory. He remembered discovering who his father was, and how horrified he had been. If he had not been so distracted, trying to save Tohru, he probably would have become suicidal or gone into some kind of deep depression. But his life moved forward so fast, that he never really had time to.

What he remembered most vividly was the burning building, watching it crumble to the ground. He remembered hoping, with all of his heart, that his real mother was safe, and that he could have a family again. Now, he realized, that his hopes were unrealistic. Even if his mother had survived, (and the chances were very slim; there were only two survivors: a middle aged man who suffered major injuries, and an old lady, Penelope Johnson, who was not harmed at all) he would probably not have been able to leave the loony bin until he was already grown. And he would most likely never had a father…

That same day that the building burnt down, Tai had met his new "mother", or caretaker anyway, Saki Hanajima. He had now been living with her for four years. At first, he was rather frightened of her, but he'd come to like and trust her. His "father", Kureno Sohma, had become extremely depressed after his wife's death, and had gone on a long journey. He had informed Tai that he would be back in a year, but three years had passed and he had still not returned. At first, he used to send letters, but that had stopped after about a year and a half. Tai wasn't even sure he was alive any more. Or maybe he had just grown tired of his "son".

They had mostly moved away to escape the memories, of his old house and of where Green Oaks Mental Institution had once stood. Tai told "Hana" (that was what his new caretaker had asked him to call her) that he could handle staying in his neighborhood, but she wouldn't hear of it.

"I can see that your heart has been deeply wounded from this. If you stay, it will not heal," she had told him.

So here he was, inside his new bedroom, in this new life. He was beginning to feel a bit melancholy, contemplating the past, when thankfully, Hana called,

"Tai! I wish for your assistance in cleaning the attic!" Tai obeyed, and soon stood beside her in the small, dusty room upstairs. Their attic was filthy, and full of very old things, because the house belonged to Hana's grandmother before they moved in. She had passed away, and in her will left her the house.

Tai started in the corner of the room that was the most cluttered. His job was to sort out the junk that could be kept, and the junk that had to be thrown away. He brushed away the dust and found a basket full of electronics. He found a lot of old games, that most likely once belonged to Hana. There was a Game Boy, a Nintendo64, and a Playstation2. There were also a variety of games in the basket: but the one that stood out to him the most was a brightly colored case, that was labeled in huge letters, "Dance Dance Revolution".


End file.
